The Alapaha River goes underground because the underlying karst limestone rises in what’s called the Cody Scarp, which runs across north Florida. Other rivers that go underground there include the Little Alapaha River and the Santa Fe River. The Withlacoochee River does not go underground, but it does sprout Madison Blue Spring.
Source: Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, vol. 123, no. 3-4, p. 457.
Here’s a cutaway diagram of how all that works underground: Continue reading
Update 2025-05-11: Pictures: Okefenokee Outing 2014-11-22.
Meet at 10AM Saturday November 22nd at Georgia’s Stephen C. Foster State Park near Fargo, GA,
and paddle into the park and back.
Bring a boat, or you can rent one at the park.
WWALS board member and veteran boater Bret Wagenhorst will be our guide. Facebook event.
This event is FREE! All we ask is Continue reading
Drilling through fragile sinkhole-prone
karst limestone under the Withlacoochee River (or the Suwannee River,
or the Santa Fe River): what could possibly go wrong?
Sabal Trail now proposes to move off of the Withlacoochee River in
Florida, but still plans to cross the Withlacoochee in Georgia,
and to cross the Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers, all of which have
the same hydrogeology.
You can talk directly to Sabal Trail and FERC at the
Open House in Jasper, Florida, 5-7PM Tuesday 21 October 2014,
and you can join WWALS where the Alapaha River
disappears entirely into a sinkhole,
at the
Alapaha Sink, 2PM Sunday 26 October 2014.
Here are before and after diagrams by Continue reading
Will Sabal Trail actually move off the Withlacoochee River in Florida?
That depends on how you interpret which version of what Sabal Trail has said
about its seven (7) different proposed fracked methane pipeline
routes through Suwannee County, Florida.
And all but one of the five proposed Georgia routes still would
cross the Withlacoochee River in Lowndes County, Georgia.
Beware that no matter what Sabal Trail says, FERC could pick any of these
routes or some other.
And no matter what FERC says, other agencies, including state and local,
also have to approve permits and other evaluatios of any route,
plus both Spectra Energy and Williams Company have recently “suspended”
or cancelled pipelines as uneconomic.
There is something you and your local elected bodies can do.
Amber Vann wrote for the Suwannee Democrat 19 September 2014, Gas pipeline concerns continue, Continue reading
Update 2014-11-13: This is actually the Dead River Sink. See also the Alapaha River Sink. -jsq
Received 16 September 2044:
I just saw the photos on WWALS web site of Bret’s trip to find the sink, Very nice.
Here are some photos of the sink you may want to add.
-Chris Mericle
Plus this Sunday, 10AM 21 September 2014, Chris and Deanna Mericle will be our local hosts at the WWALS outing on the Withlacoochee and Suwannee Rivers in Florida.
-jsq
Continue reading
Chris Mericle’s Florida state rep.,
Elizabeth Porter,
who also attended the recent
GA EPD briefing to SRWMD about Valdosta’s plans to fix
its wastewater overflowes into the Withlacoochee River, just objected to FERC about Sabal Trail’s fracked methane pipeline (PDF).
Chris and Deanna Mericle are our local hosts for the
WWALS Withlacoochee and Suwannee River
paddle past the pipeline 21 September 2014.
FLORIDA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Continue reading
Representative Elizabeth Porter
District 10
Elizabeth.Porter@myfloridahouse.gov
Update 20 September 2014: Now with a lunch stop at Chris and Deanna’s house! Bring your own lunch or snacks, but the Mericles have picnic tables and bathrooms. Chris reports the Withlacoochee is high enough that the shoals are no problem, and the weather report says clear all day tomorrow. See also his report on FERC and Sabal Trail’s recent visit to this same area and what Sabal Trail wrote to FERC the next day.
Sabal Trail may be thinking of moving their pipeline, but WWALS is
still padding past the original location 10AM Sunday September 21st.
All are invited to come see for themselves the springs, shoals, and sinkholes
that we value more highly than pipeline profit for a company from Houston.
Join us for a fine day on two of our fabulous southern blackwater rivers:
the Withlacoochee River and the Suwannee River, in Hamilton and Suwannee
Counties, Florida.
The meeting place is the CR 143 Boat Ramp on the Withlacoochee River near Jennings, Florida. For directions, please see the earlier post about this outing.
This event is FREE! All we ask is Continue reading
A citizen of Suwannee County, Florida has written a letter
to county commissions, starting with
her own Suwannee County Commission that meets tonight,
and WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. has joined the many signers.
The Action letter to County Commissioners against Sabal Trail pipeline begins:
Dear Commissioner,
We are sure that you have heard of the Sabal Trail/Spectra Energy Pipeline and the resolution passed by Hamilton County BOCC August 22, 2014, to prohibit its path through the Withlacoochee River in Hamilton County (link below). It appears that that resolution has been successful. But the problem has not gone away in that Continue reading
There’s a reason
Valdosta’s water wells are 400 feet deep.
Its earlier, shallower wells were sucking up Withlacoochee River water that still leaks into groundwater.
Should we risk a fracked methane pipeline digging under that same river and possibly causing more sinkholes and underground movement of contaminants, some perhaps coming from the pipeline itself or its demands for pressure testing water?
Sustainability of Ground-water Resources, by William M. Alley Thomas E. Reilly O. Lehn Franke, 1 January 1999, U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey – Publisher. In Box E on Page 63:
The Connection Between Surface-Water Quality and Ground-Water Quality in a Karst Aquifer
The Upper Floridan aquifer, which is the sole source of water supply for Valdosta, Georgia, and much of the surrounding area, receives large volumes of direct discharge from the Withlacoochee River through sinkholes in the streambed or off-channel. A highly interconnected conduit system has developed Continue reading
Figure E-1. Estimated percentage of Withlacoochee River water in ground water in the Upper Floridan aquifer, June 1991. (Modified from Plummer and others, 1998.)
Chris Mericle got the appended letter from Sabal Trail through
Congressman Yoho’s office (FL-03). -jsq
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Norfleet, Jessica
Date: Thu, Aug 28, 2014 at 10:41 AM
Subject: FW: Comment on Filing submitted in FERC PF14-1-000 by Individual No Affiliation,et al.
Here is the context of the information I just spoke to you about,
Jessica and Clay, I want to provide you a quick heads up regarding the Withlacoochee River crossing. Continue reading